Primary Tools & Materials:ANALOG PRINT, INKJET PRINT

This clash of digital and analog printing is inspired by German designer Wolfgang Weingart. Weingart's work was known for abstract compositions with overlapping letters and shapes, and even letterforms created by combining other characters. This is something I wanted to try in the creation of this letter F.

I began by thinking of all the letters that might easily overlap to form an abstract letter F. I decided to try L, I, U, and N - all lowercase. I then used my inkjet printer to print duplicates - in red - of lowercase letters in Clarendon, Univers, and Futura - with the idea that I would overlay them with other letters printed by hand. I printed samples from the same three typefaces on cardstock, then carefully cut them out to create stencils. Then it was just a matter of placing the stencils over the printed letters to decide how to construct my letter Fs, and experimenting with how to imprint using an unpredictable ink pad.

To create the most harmonious forms possible, I paired the same typefaces in each study, but with different weights for a bit of added contrast. This led to bizarre results, like reversed thick and thin strokes, extra serifs in places that don't make sense, and in some cases, letters that are borderline illegible. I got the hang of this method just as I learned to create gradients with the ink pad, and shift the stencil over a bit so that the arms of the F wouldn't be the same length.